DxO Labs crowns Sony Xperia Z2 new king of the smartphones

Sony has been on an absolute tear these past few years with imaging tech, and they’ve earned yet another feather in their collective cap—this time, for a smartphone camera.

DxO Labs just published the results of their Sony Xperia Z2 test, and it’s the best smartphone camera out there. Built around a 20.7-megapixel, 1/2.3-inch BSI CMOS sensor and housed in a thin, waterpoof body, the Z2 earned a combined photo and video score of 79 in the DxoMark Mobile category. The report praises the “reasonable noise levels” and “pleasing colors” in all shooting conditions, as well as the “impressive detail preservation outdoors.” Though they share many of the same vital camera specs, the Z2 is a definite improvement over the Z1 (and Z1S), which had a DxOMark score of 76.

The Sony Xperia Z2 is the new king of the DxOMark mobile category.

The Nokia 808 PureView had held the top spot since its scores were published in late 2012 with a score of 77 points overall, and its still-photo score matches that of the Z2, with 81 points. Digging into the individual test results, you could make a case that the 808 is a better stills camera. Its color, noise, and artifact scores are higher, though the Z2 earned very high marks in the exposure, autofocus, and texture categories. In the video category, the Z2 scored 73 points, significantly higher than the 68 points that the 808 racked up—and that was without even testing the 4K video mode on the Z2.

Of course, sensor performance is just one measure of a camera, and as you may have gathered from all of those numbers being tossed around, it's hard to tell how DxO weighs each test, or really what any of numerical scores mean. So take it all with a grain of salt. But it’s a good sign for the Sony mobile sensor division, which after a few years of dominance is facing growing competition from the likes of Samsung. The Xperia Z2 is due out in the US later this month.